Thinking to buy a new mattress? Not sure about the brands or Types? Want Something for your unique sleeping postion? Read our Mattress Buying Guide and you get the right direction.
We spend a considerable amount of time in our beds i.e. adults 7-9 hours and older adult over the age of 60+ 7-8 hours because we all know that a good night's sleep is essential to maintain superior mental and physical health. Sleeping is not the only thing you do in your bed, but we also like to watch TV while sitting on the bed and some people read books.
Therefore, a proper body supportive mattress is essential to get a comfortable and calm sleep. Over 90% consider a comfortable mattress essential for deep sleep according to research conducted in 2011. It means that a new mattress is crucial for your deep sleep.
Interesting fact: Both short (less than 5.5 hours) and long sleepers (more than 8.5 hours) watch more TV than average sleeping time i.e. 8 hours.In this post, we will provide you guidance on how to select the perfect mattress according to your sleeping position, weight, and off-course your comfort level. The ideal mattress should contour around the shape of your body and relieve the pressure points.
Let us start with what you will need to know to get the best, comfortable, and affordable mattress.
How to Choose a New Mattress?
The Better Sleep Council recommends you to replace your mattress after seven to ten years. It is true; if you choose the appropriate mattress, it will give you a calm, healthy, and comfortable sleep. Buying new bedding can be the most intimidating and confusing shopping process.
You should consider multiple factors when purchasing a new mattress such as material, budget, comfort level, ergonomic design, body support, temperature control, motion transfer, durability, sizes, thickness, firmness, edge support, and various other elements. In this buying guide, we aim to able you to identify multiple things that are needed to take your final buying decision.
So let’s have a look into the factors!
What Types of Mattresses Are Available?
The different types of material are involved in developing a comfortable mattress such as memory foam, innerspring, latex, and hybrid. We’ll look at each of them briefly:
Memory foam
The most common mattresses are constructed with a memory foam (developed by NASA in 1966) that gives you a comfortable feeling as it contours around the shape of your body. It is an ultimate way out for pain relief and pressure point relief purposes and can comfortably fit any adjustable bed. It also helps to reduce dust mites and other allergens. Latest forms include;
- Open-cell memory foam
- Gel-infused memory foam
- Graphite memory foam
The ultimate guide to choosing the Best Memory Foam Mattress
Innersprings
Innerspring was first introduced back in 1870 when Berliner Heinrich Westphal brought the spring concept to bedding. These are suitable for stomach sleepers and who weigh more than 230lbs.
The innerspring mattresses come with a combination of coils that is the best cooling solution where you can enjoy sweat-free sleep and provides you excellent edge support. The disadvantage of the innerspring mattress is that it is typically available one-sided and cannot be flipped over with limited life durability.
- Bonnell coils
- Continuous Coils
- Offset Coils
- Pocketed Coils
Coil Type Shape Best for Coil Gauge Coil Count
Bonnell Rounded Hourglass Dorms, kids room Low – High 300 – 600
Continuous Straight line Support to lower back Medium-High 400 – 800
Offset straightened ends – Hourglass Sleeping with partner Low – Medium 600 – 2,000
Pocketed Spiral shape – fabric encased Heavyweight High 800 – 1,200
Latex
The eco-friendly mattress that assembles with latex that can give you a refreshing sleep, highly durable and a good bounce as well. Conversely, these types of models are more expensive than a traditional mattress. You can choose between two types of latex:
- Natural Latex
- Synthetic Latex
Hybrid
You can also enjoy the hybrid model of your mattresses where these come with the combination of different material types. By using this mattress, you can treat yourself to entertain all traits of each material, and you can enjoy a comfortable conformance level, but the price of these mattresses is costly. Some of the brands offer you to customize your mattress according to your sleeping needs.
Sizing Considerations
The most critical question that comes into mind about what proportion of mattress you needed for buying a new mattress. For deciding the size of a mattress, you need to ask the following questions from yourself:
- What is the dimension of your room?
- Do you share your mattress?
- How tall are you?
- Do you have any pets?
Numerous mattresses come in various sizes on the market such as Twin, XL, Queen, Full, King, and Cal King. The Twin sized mattress comes in a small size that is ideal for a child or an adult but not for the taller ones.
Common mistake: New mattress buyers usually buy a too-small mattress which is one of the biggest mistakes they make.The Twin XL mattress is six inches longer the twin mattress and more popular which is the best choice for tall adults to sleep alone. The Full-sized mattress is also known as double size mattress that gives you a broader area to a comfortable sleep.
Size Dimension
Twin 38″ x 75″
Twin XL 38″ x 80″
Full 54″ x 75″
Queen 60″ x 80″
King 76″ x 80″
California King 72″ x 84″
The Queen sized mattress gives you an area to sleep especially with partners. It is the most popular mattress size now a day. You can also use it for guest bed because it offers you an ultimate sleep. The King-sized mattress is a combination of two twin XL mattresses.It is an excellent option for the couples as well as those who have planned to share a mattress with their children or any pets. The California King sized mattress is best for those who want more length on a mattress. You can use this mattress on an adjustable bed because its dimension is constructive to give you sufficient length at the head as well as foot elevator.
You may be interested in 10 Best Cheap Mattresses with Buyer’s Guide and Reviews.
Thickness
The thickness is one of the crucial factors for buying a perfect mattress. Many people believe that the sizes of mattresses are interrelated to their height, but this is not true.
The mattresses also come on the market with different thickness level, which varies from brand to brand and sizes to sizes. Mattress thickness plays a unique role, and the most acceptable thickness of the bedding is 8 inches to 14 inches.
However, you can choose the right thickness as your body weight or height. Mostly spring mattresses that are equipped with inner coils have a range about 20 inches in their width. If you are a heavyweight person, then your mattress should be thicker than an average mattress so that when you lie on it, your body did not sink and hit bottom.
Comfort
A comfortable mattress provides you with ultra-plush luxury sleep throughout the night and brightens your morning. The material is also a significant factor for your comfortable rest at night. The comfort means it should align your shoulder and neck as well as give proper support to your spine.
The breathability and the cooling factor also come into consideration when assessing the comfort of the mattresses (discussed below).
Those people who are having back pain can use a medium firmness mattress that will assist vertebrae alignment. For arthritis, the comfort level of the bedding plays an essential role because it provides a proper contour of the shoulder and hips along with additional support at the legs, knees, and the waist.
And if you still want to learn more, go to our full review here.
Temperature Regulation
We all tend to sleep hot naturally, some more than others. But the mattresses also plays a critical role here, some of them absorb the heat from your body while others don’t. This makes you feel warm more than you want, and it can disturb the sleep.
Temperature tip: The recommended bedroom temperature for optimal sleep should be between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.The best characteristics of the bedding should enable your body to breathe comfortably. Therefore, you should look for a proper air-circulatory system within a mattress along with the use of temperature-regulating materials.
The hybrid and innerspring mattress are the best temperatures regulating choices that you can make because they have an excellent air-flow in the support layer.
Edge Support
Mattresses with firm edges give you a restful sleep while relieving the pressure from your joints. If you are going to share your mattress with a partner, then the edge support system is the best trait.
Lying on this type of mattress provides your body with support and your back remains aligned. If you are a side/back sleeper and want to release the stress from your shoulder and hips, then edge-supported mattresses are the excellent choice for you. This trait enhanced the durability of this mattress as well as provides you with a comfortable luxury sleep.
These types of beddings are easy to move in or out, especially for those with more limited mobility. An edge-supported mattress may be compulsory for those people who are facing hip or joint pain. The hybrid and innerspring mattress are the best choices when it comes to edge support.
Durability
You need to know about the longevity of a mattress, which you are going to purchase. You must know what the average lifespan of the option you are considering is? If it is, less than eight years then you want to think again. The material of your mattress is directly interrelated with the durability, for example, you can enjoy superior strength if you find the latex material mattress best for you.
As we discussed above that the durability of your mattress primarily depends on its material so if you choose the memory for yourself, then the lifespan of the memory foam is about seven-year. The innerspring and the hybrids have the shorter than average lifespan, while the latex, has the longest lifespan with an average of more than 8 years.
Material Average lifespan
Latex 8 years
Memory foam 7 years
Hybrid 6 years
Innerspring 5.5 years
Motion Isolation
If you sleep with someone else in the mattress, you do not want his or her movements to disturb you. The most significant way to address this is by finding a mattress with good motion isolation trait. It means that if you put the pressure on one side of the bed, the other parts of the bed do not feel anything.
The memory foam has a higher density foam that is better than any other mattress in term of motion isolation. The motion isolation factors of different mattresses are prioritized as below:
Type Motion Isolation (rating out of 10)
Memory foam 9
Hybrid 8
Foam 7
Latex 6
Innerspring 5
Find out more about 10 Mattress Topper in our complete review here.
How Much Should You Spend on a New Mattress?
One of the essential factors in buying a mattress is the price of the mattress you are considering. You must take the time to understand what mattress will be best for you. It is our objective to guide you to pick the best mattress for your good night's sleep. Different mattress types vary from brand to brand and model to model in term of price. Generally, memory foam an innerspring mattresses have a lower rate as compared to latex and hybrid versions.
Always remember one thing, never judge the quality and comfort of the mattress by relating it to the cost. Don’t assume a mattress that has more cost is of higher quality than other lower cost mattresses. We would recommend you to avoid cheap foam mattress at all cost because they tend to be more toxic materials, have a higher level of off-gassing, lower quality, and less durable.
Also, You can read more about 7 Best Luxury Mattress Review.
What type of sleeper are you?
Every person has unique physical characteristics that genuinely make an impact on the mattress that offers us the perfect combination of support and comfort. Let us have a look at the primary sleeping positions to provide you a better idea of the ideal mattress for a stomach sleeper, back sleeper, side sleeper, and the combination of all sleepers.
Majority of the people like to sleep on their sides and is considered as the healthiest position. By choosing this posture, you will not have a heating problem and snoring, but on the other hand, you will experience hip or shoulder pain due to increased pressure. Therefore, a softer firm mattress gives you comfortable feeling along with superior body contouring.
The stomach sleeping is not a healthy sleeping position because it does not provides proper support to your body. The firm mattress is recommended for the stomach sleeper because the plushier options will make your spine curve, which can initiate pain.
Back sleeper is probably the most widespread and it is considering one of the healthiest sleeping positions because it provides the best support for your lower pack. A medium-level firmness is an excellent option here because a softer feel will consequence in more hugging which can cause pain.
Want to learn more about The Best Mattress for Stomach Sleepers? Read our complete review here.
Firmness
The firmness is the most critical criteria that people use when they are buying a mattress. In term of comfort, firmness is a way of telling the feeling of a mattress. It is a common problem that a mattress is very comfortable for one person and uncomfortable for someone else. For this reason, mattresses are offering different firmness level that helps the customer to find a best and suitable mattress according to their preferences.
It is crucial to decide what type of firmness is best for you and your sleeping partner. There are several criteria's for making this decision including comfort, weight, sleeping position and other elements.
There are three necessary firmness levels to choose from i.e. soft, medium, and firm. Mattresses are commonly very responsive to weight and body pressure. Therefore, we can say that sleeper’s weight influence the firmness that tells about the restful and restless night’s sleep. The sleepers who have approximately 130 pounds weight, they should choose the softer firmness level.
A sleeper, who weighs between 130 and 230 pounds, has the excellent choice for comfortable sleep in the form of medium-firm mattresses. The firmer mattresses are specially designed for those sleepers who weigh over 230 pounds.
See our Top 10 AirMattress complete review here.
After Sale Service
Many companies offer plenty of sale services after purchasing their products such as shipping, warranty, and trial duration. Warranties of the different mattress vary from company to company. The trial period always ensures you to know the exact term of the warranty.
It allows you to get a new mattress if you are not satisfied with the previous one. There are plenty of companies which offer you up to 15 years warranty. Others give you ten years warranties. The high-end mattresses come with a lifetime warranty.
Before buying the mattress, confirm the trial period and return and refund policies as well as the warranty card. Few companies present the trial period of their product to satisfy the customer. Therefore, always keep your eye on the trial period before paying them fully.
Whether you are ordering the mattress online or by store, look for the company with quick and free shipping.
Learn more about Best Mattresses if you want to see the details before purchasing.
Conclusion
We all have different preferences when they come to choose the right mattress for a comfortable sleep. A perfect mattress should have a proper firmness level, motion isolation, temperature regulation, and edge support. It should provide your spine a proper align, contours your body, and gives you a luxury sleep.
We have provided you complete beneficial information to buy a perfect mattress for you. This guide can help you understand some essential factors, which play a very vital role for a comfortable sleep.
If you have, any suggestion query or suggestion we always like to hear from you. Just leave your comments in the section given below, and we will get back to you.
Enjoy the ultimate ultra-plush luxury sleep by choosing the right mattress!